What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:
*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*
TV
The Red Sleeve Cuff (2021) – Ep 13-17
I spent a large part of these final few episodes going back and forth between being sad for Deok-im (Lee Se-young) and angry at Yi San (Lee Junho), to being angry with Deok-im and sad for Yi San.
Yi San’s continued obsession with having Deok-im become a consort, and her continued refusal became the central plot for the last leg of the show, and despite knowing how things turned out historically, it was still incredibly heartbreaking to see the show’s interpretation of these events.
San’s part seemed largely confined to bullying Deok-im into reciprocating his affections for her, and while I strongly agree to her unwillingness to give in, the reasoning the writers give her felt incredibly weak. It made it seem largely like she doesn’t wish to share him with the nation, so she’d rather not have him at all. Once she does finally submit, she seems to resign herself to living like an object rather than a person, waiting to be called upon. Where did all the fire of the young Deok-im we knew go? Where is the woman who was willing to speak her mind and demand what she wants even if she knows she may not have it? Why is the Royal Consort experiencing so much existential angst?
By far some of the most difficult scenes to watch were those involving the death of their son, followed by a pregnant Deok-im’s own death. After striving so long to be with the woman he loved, to lose the children born of that love, and then to only get a short decade with her breaks San in ways beyond his capacity. To add insult to injury, Deok-im never truly told him how she felt for him, and he lived not knowing if she truly loved him or not. That he should pass her by should they meet in their next lives and that would have rather had her friends by her side than him on her deathbed. It’s no wonder the man threw himself into his work so violently that it drove him to an early grave. Though a beloved and well-regarded king, remained rather distant from most relationships in his later life, it seems.
I was rather disappointed with the “it was all a dream” ending that the show pulled. I’m not sure what the intention was in showing their final moments that way, but perhaps it was to spare us from even more death. To give us this final hopeful message that perhaps San did meet Deok-im in death, and got to spend the afterlife with her by his side.
While I may have had my issues with the plot, I will say, I was rather impressed with both Lee Se-young and Lee Junho’s performances throughout the run of the show. Both delivered extremely nuanced and well-balanced insights into the workings of their characters’ minds, and I was laughing, crying and raging alongside them the whole way. I’m looking forward to what these two have in store for us with their future projects.
Colourful Granny 